Railick wasn’t sure exactly what had happened. He had faint memories of bad dreams involving screaming and pain but it all seemed so distant now. Much less distant was the memory of an entire mountain falling upon his head and he was almost certain he remembered his organs exploding inside his body. Yet here he lay, with the sky above him and friends all around. He was not in pain; indeed he had never felt better in all his life. As the dwarf sat up he noted that his brother Bailick was next to him and further down the nude forms of Dod and Seed could be seen. Each dwarf was as silent as the next; each had a memory of dying. They could not shake the feeling that something wasn’t right, but none of them were about to complain.
“Where ‘ave yall been you cowards! While you’ve been hiding under a rock me an’ the boys have been fighting a war!” Tindel’s voice carried artificial anger; in reality he could not be happier to see the four. “And you two! I could have used your help over the last several days, where have you been!” A stubby finger pointed in Dod and Seed’s direction.
“Er uh, as far as I be knowing we was dead!” Seed stood up, unashamed of his nudity. Most dwarves were prepared for this eventuality; indeed most dwarven clothing would eventually rot off your body if you couldn’t afford to replace it. In a way it took him back to his childhood days of running nude through the rocks and stone of him mountain home. “I don’t even know where the ‘ell we are boy!”
“He speaks the truth; the last thing I remember was being put to death by that sissy ass Baron of ours.” Dod sat up next, shaking his head a bit. It was then that both dwarves noticed that their weapons of choice were buried along with them. Dod’s massive battle axe and Seed’s strangely deadly hoe were now marked with a crimson symbol they both knew stood for Armok the Blood God. It was clear to them to whom they owed their miraculous resurrection.
“Was it because the bird? He didn’t believe the thing about the elves did he?” Tindel frowned a bit, suddenly feeling responsible for the death of his two friends. As temporary as it appeared to be he still felt bad for possibly causing them such pain. Dod was the first to shake his head and grin a bit, feeling rather good himself.
“Nah, he bought the bit about the elves shooting his eagle down hook, line, and sinker. He skinned us alive, however, because we came back empty handed.” The menacing dwarf slowly slid his thumb down the blade of his axe, drawing a bit of blood. “However, next time we meet I’ll be the one doing the skinning.” With this all the dwarves decided it might be best to find a better place to talk. It was only as Tarilic offered his hand to Bailick that the dwarf noticed his previous murderer was among them.
“Oi’ Dat be da elfie wot shot me!” With narrowed eyes the dwarf closed his fist down tightly upon the elf’s hand. His other fist was coming up quickly to squeeze the life out of the ill prepared elf’s thin body.
“Wait Bailick! He saved my life he did! I told him we are even and he agreed to work with us from now on. If it weren’t for him you’d still be under that rock and I’d probably be getting buried right next to you if the goblins showed me any respect at all!” Bailick loved Tindel a great deal and this story flipped the dwarf’s rage right around and had tears threatening to escape his eyes instead.
“Aww elfie, it’s okay! Tindel is mah brudder, tanks for saving him mate!” With that Bailick wrapped both arms around Tarilic and hugged him, nearly bringing about the same ends he meant to achieve whilst he was still angry. The elf could only attempt to fake a smile as his face was masked with a mixture of pain and alarm.
“Oi, let him go dere brother, da elf is turning purple!” Railick’s strong hand gently tugged on Bailick’s bicep, causing him to release the unlucky elf. If the skin on his cheeks weren’t covered in a thick beard and filth it might have been possible then to see a faint blush in the dwarf’s cheeks. It was then that Tindel insisted they all return to the fortress to take stock of their situation. Dod and Seed followed behind the rest who knew the way, their eyes growing rather wide as they took upon the destruction around them.
“What in the bloody ‘ell happened here mates? All I kin see is goblin bodies from miles around!” Indeed the remnants of the rock slide were a gruesome graveyard unlike any other. Over the following days several of the remaining dwarves returned to the site to pry loose any loot that they could. The dwarves could not wear the goblin’s body armor as it was much too thin, but it was still beautiful craftsmanship and would make fine trophies. If nothing else they could later melt down the armor and weapons they had no room for and forge them into something useful.
It took a great deal of work to clean the fortress then, all the corpses were carted out of the tunnels using the cart system Railick and Bailick had used to mine such a short time before. It took weeks and nothing else could be done while they were moving the corpses. In these days the rest of the dwarves noticed that now Railick, Bailick, Seed, and Dod had that red glow to their eyes. None of them slept and they all ate very little. Rumors began to spread about them, that they were demons or zombies or something even worse. It bred fear and respect among those that remained and they followed Railick’s orders to the letter.
The massive trap that had killed hundreds of goblins was the worst to clean out, and it took all four dwarves hauling day and night for a week to totally finish the job. When they were done there was a pile of goblin corpses unlike any the world had seen in recent eons, and when that pile was set to flame it created a cloud of smoke that could be seen for miles around. This sent a message to those goblins that still remained on the mountain that there would be no mercy for them if they remained. So it was that all the survivors scattered to the four winds never to reunite for revenge or any other purpose.
The stockpiles were filled with goblin items that increased the worth of the fortress ten thousand fold or more. Tindel drafted a letter to be carried back to the mountain home with a glowing report about their success in repelling the goblin invasion. Along with this he included a request to send more workers as well as a trade convoy. He listed in detail all the things that they would need and how they would pay for them with looted goblin war gear. He chose the fastest and most rested among them to carry this letter, aside from Dod whom out right refused to return to the Baron’s presence.
Months passed and life in fortress began to enter a certain rhythm. With all the bodies cleaned out Railick and Bailick worked close with Tindel to continue expanding the fortress deeper into the mountain. Seed trained the rest of the remaining dwarves in farming and requested Tindel and the brothers to redirect the stream and flood gate system so that it could be used to irrigate their new farm land. It wasn’t long before the fortress began growing all the food they would ever need to survive, though it would be a bland life gnawing on plump helmet every day for the rest of time. Luckily all the dwarves knew a better use for plump helmet and soon a still was churning out booze faster than it could be consumed.
Years passed in this way, with new migrants coming to the fortress every so often. The first trade caravans came heavy with goods from the dwarven home and left heavy with goblin war material. They had so much in fact that it was several years before the last of the goblin armor was finally hauled away. All that remained of it was personal items that each dwarf had claimed for their own.
With the success of the fortress word quickly spread all across the surrounding region. Human settlers soon came and began to form new towns through-out the plains which gave the dwarves close trading partners. With the assistance of Tarilic it was not long before trade caravans began to arrive from Elvin lands. With new access to vast amounts of wood all the dwarves supply needs were now met. The plains had very few trees and those that did exist were scrawny and bent over by the frequent storms.
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Topic: The Chronicles of Clan Stonemane - The Rise and Fall of Fortress Stonemane (Read 9639 times)